MOTOGP

LCR Honda MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow qualified fifth for the Malaysian Grand Prix with a broken bone in his left hand, as a result of the first of his two crashes on Saturday. The Czech and Australian GP winner fell at Turn 7 after the checkered flag was shown in third practice, and finished that session 13th to miss out on a guaranteed spot in Q2. He was fastest in the first phase of qualifying ...

Ducati's Malaysian Grand Prix polesitter Andrea Dovizioso thought he had got his qualifying strategy wrong during the wet session. Dovizioso claimed his second pole position of the MotoGP season at Sepang on Saturday, beating Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo on a drying surface. The Italian set two laps that were good enough for pole, and they bookended a session in which he was the onl...

Jorge Lorenzo has hit back at critics he feels have forgotten his past MotoGP success in the wet amid his 2016 struggles, after qualifying third in Malaysia. Lorenzo's bid for a fourth title in his final season with Yamaha unravelled mid-year with a string of lowly results in mixed-weather races. The Spaniard admitted at the time that he was lacking confidence with Michelin's front tires in the r...

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso claimed his second pole position of the MotoGP season, in a damp Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying session at Sepang. While third practice on Saturday morning was dry, rain fell shortly afterwards and the track surface was still wet for qualifying. Covering the unlikely prospect of the resurfaced circuit drying, Ducati for Dovizioso and Yamaha for Valentino Rossi had secon...

Sepang will continue to host MotoGP's Malaysian Grand Prix until at least 2021. The latest venue to secure a contract extension in 2016, Sepang's new deal covers the next five seasons. The then-freshly-built circuit joined the calendar as the new Malaysian GP host in 1999, following Shah Alam between '91-97 and Johor in '98. Sepang will host pre-season testing on January 30-February 1 next year, ...

Suzuki's Maverick Vinales led MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez in third practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. After Friday's rain, the session was fully dry and Vinales set the pace with Honda's Marquez and Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo completing a top three covered by just 0.096 seconds. Vinales was the first rider to move ahead of Marquez's Friday benchmark, recording a 2m01.013s lap jus...

Cal Crutchlow lamented a "tactical error" to help Honda late in opening Malaysian Grand Prix practice that means he is likely to have to navigate Saturday's first phase of qualifying. The Australian GP winner led the way early in the second half of the session and was third with 10 minutes remaining, but ultimately bungled down to 13th in the order. Crutchlow put that down to a decision to help H...

MotoGP champion Marc Marquez elected to sit out second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, after his stomach-bug-affected condition deteriorated following the opening session. Marquez traveled to Indonesia earlier this week, between the Australian and Malaysian GPs, and revealed on Thursday that he had started to feel unwell on Wednesday. With what has now been outlined as gastroenteritis, Mar...

MotoGP riders including Valentino Rossi have expressed concern about "dangerous" lingering patches of water as the resurfaced Sepang circuit dries, following Malaysian Grand Prix practice. Water seeping through the track surface and taking significant time to dry was one of the issues that blighted a Michelin MotoGP tire test at the freshly-upgraded circuit in July, but changes including drainage...

Jack Miller led Cal Crutchlow in a rain-hit second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, as world champion Marc Marquez was sidelined due to illness. A rain storm lashed Sepang on Friday between the first and second sessions, ensuring the bulk of the running was on wet tires, waiting for the resurfaced layout to dry. First practice pacesetter Marquez sat out the session, the Honda rider ...

MotoGP champion Marc Marquez led the way in first practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The Honda rider was at the top of the order for the majority of the 45 minutes, and set his 2m01.210s after the checkered flag to lead Suzuki's Maverick Vinales by 0.268 seconds. Times improved throughout the session on a circuit that has been resurfaced and had several corners reprofiled since the ...

Ducati MotoGP rider Andrea Iannone concedes his fractured vertebra has not fully recovered, ahead of his return at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Iannone crashed during practice for the San Marino Grand Prix in early September, and fractured the T3 vertebra in his upper back. While he attempted to return at Aragon two weeks later, getting only as far as first practice, he has missed the last four gran...

Marc Marquez, Honda, Valentino Rossi, Yamaha, Aragon MotoGP 2016 Marc Marquez says his relationship with Valentino Rossi has improved in the year since their 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix MotoGP clash, to the point that it is "professional." On the eve of the 2015 Sepang event, Rossi sparked a major controversy when he claimed that Marquez manipulated the Australian Grand Prix days earlier, and was w...

Australian Grand Prix winner Cal Crutchlow has dismissed the notion that his additional, mid-season MotoGP test at Sepang will give him any advantage in this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. The Sepang circuit has been resurfaced with the profile of several corners â including the final hairpin, which did not impress Formula 1 drivers â also changed since MotoGP's pre-season test in February. Crut...

Yamaha MotoGP boss Lin Jarvis says Valentino Rossi is not viewing his next two seasons as his last, and he believes the Italian could continue to race when he's 40. A month after turning 37, Rossi signed a new, two-year deal with Yamaha on the eve of the 2016 season opener at Qatar. The seven-time MotoGP champion said during that weekend the 2017-'18 contract would "90%" be his last on two wheels...